The present invention relates to a new and useful process for the preparation N-phosphonomethyl glycine (PMG).
It is known that N-phosphonomethyl glycine is a very useful intermediate for the preparation of herbicidal agents and compositions having outstanding properties, and it is also known that this compound can presently only be prepared by very difficult and complex methods being very complicated to be put into practice.
There is therefore a great need of new and useful processes permitting to obtain the N-phosphonomethyl glycine without having the disadvantages and the limits of the method presently and conventionnally employed.
Therefore, the present invention has for one of its primary objectives a new and useful process for the preparation of PMG. Another object of the invention is to provide such a process which would be simple and of a short duration of the reaction and which would permit the direct use of the compound so obtained without need of purification. Another object of the invention is to provide a process wherein starting materials of low cost may be employed and which can easily be found on the market.